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Havasu’s Discovery Girl

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Eleven-year-old Cheyenne Halfacre-Buie felt like July would never come.

The sixth-grader at Smoketree Elementary School has been featured in the most recent issue of Discovery Girls, a national magazine for tweens, and held off telling her friends until it hit the newsstands.

“My teacher showed it to the class and said, ‘Do you recognize anyone here?’” Cheyenne said.

“My friends all said, ‘You’re in a magazine?’”

It was a long buildup for the Havasu native, who first heard she had gotten into Discovery Girls in March. The application process began during the winter, and involved Cheyenne sending in photos and answering essay questions on her life and aspirations.

“I had five rough drafts to make it perfect,” she said of the written section, adding that she arrived late at a sleepover because she was so busy trying to get finished by the deadline.

After learning she was a winner, Cheyenne got to experience a taste of modeling during an April photo shoot at MacDonald’s Ranch in Scottsdale. Eleven other girls from around Arizona were also selected as part of an issue of the magazine that highlighted the state.

“I liked doing the hair and makeup,” said Cheyenne, an aspiring doctor who said she considers herself a mix of girly girl and tomboy.

Cheyenne and the rest of the group also created content for Discovery Girls, writing about their favorite trends and preference for books versus tablets.

“The magazine is good because it is age appropriate,” said Mary Halfacre-Buie, Cheyenne’s mom. “They let the girls have a lot of input. There is adult guidance and an editor who reviews everything, but they get to have a voice.”

While Mary and husband Charles Buie were thrilled that their daughter was selected out of hundreds of applicants, they were most impressed that she stuck with the long application process and gave it her best shot.

“I’m proud she saw it through,” said Mary, a physical therapist for Lake Havasu Unified School District. “It was a pleasant surprise when she made it because so much time went by that we thought she hadn’t. And I think she handled that well.”

Longtime Lake Havasu City residents, Mary and Charles, a musician, are also parents to 9-year-old Jett who is in fourth grade at Smoketree Elementary School.

Copies of Discovery Girls are sold out at Hastings, but you can find Cheyenne at the magazine’s website,www.discoverygirls.com.